Project Section: Media

Media

The subject of women in media is an enormous one, and there are many excellent organizations devoted to it full-time. We don’t intend to duplicate their efforts! Our Media project is intended as an umbrella for any ad hoc actions or educational campaigns we may undertake.

There’s certainly plenty of gender bias to go around:

Only four women have been selected as TIME magazine’s “Man of the Year” since 1927, and only one of those four was an American woman. TIME changed the title from “Man of the Year” to “Person of the Year” in 1999, but hasn’t selected a woman since the politically correct title change.

Male guests on the Sunday morning political talk shows outnumber female guests four to one.

Network news programs feature women as expert commentators in their fields only 13% of the time; male experts are featured 87% of the time.

In movies aimed at families and children, boys are a majority of the main characters and narrators.

According to the Screen Actors Guild, men have twice as many onscreen speaking roles as women.

A 2001 study of video games showed that females account for only 16% of the characters, and protagonists are most often male.

On average, less than 10% of TV sports coverage is devoted to female athletes.

Please email us at mediaproject@equalvisibilityeverywhere.org with any ideas or suggestions you’d like to share. You can also visit our How You Can Help page for more information. We’re looking for volunteer coordinators, researchers, letter writers, interns, and helpers on all of our projects!

The Google Doodle logo honoring Alphonse Mucha, which Google ran on July 24, 2010, instead of honoring Amelia Earhart, whose birthday was the same day. But hey, why honor a real-life heroine when you can put up calendar art of a fantasy sylph in a transparent gown?

Five years ago, while watching children’s entertainment with my then 2-year old daughter, I was stunned to see that there were far more male characters than female characters in this media aimed at the youngest of children.

Media images are a powerful force in shaping our perception of men and women. The stark gender inequality in media aimed at little children is significant, as television and movies wield enormous influence on them as they develop a sense of their role in the world. And because young kids tend to watch the same TV shows and movies repeatedly, negative stereotypes get imprinted again and again.

Well, it occurred to me that it was high time for our children to see boys and girls sharing the sandbox equally. …continue reading

Published in Politico on June 13, 2010:
“If it’s Sunday, it’s more men wearing dark suits.”
So far, none of the five major Sunday morning television news shows has embraced that as a promotional... ...continue reading